July 2026 Grocery Challenge

diminua

Across three shops: tonic water and lime soda, four sorts of salad veg, five sorts of fruit, milk, garlic puree (rather than buying fresh cloves that I forget I have) coffee, tinned fish and bread and a large bag of crisps (I will take 30g in a small tupperware each day I go in to the office so I don't end up buying a 'grab bag' to have with lunch, which helps neither my purse, my waistline or the planet). All of which came to another £31.46.

£102.80 left for the rest of the month.

Nelliegrace

Grocery Budget for July for 2 Pensioners at £5 a day, £155.

Shopped at Aldi on the way home. Milk £1.65, cream £1.29, evap 52p, tuna 65p x3, tinned pineapple in juice 99p, cream crackers 49p, 30% off; organic broccoli 87p and cabbage 52p, 50% off lettuce 24p and strawberries 89p, vine tomatoes £1.49, oranges £1.39, lemons 99p, 3 bananas 48p, pears 99p, cherries 79p, blueberries £1.19.

Total £16.73

Total spent £110.48

Nelliegrace

@C_J That is very impressive. So much healthy, UPF-free, food. The roses seem a suitable reward.

Greying_Pilgrim

Argghhhhh - Shopping! Isn't it annoying when you go to shops and they're oos - and I'm saying that as someone who has the benefit of access to a car - must be a nightmare if you have to rely on several buses, or to walk ☹️

So against my better judgement, I went back to the 'nearer' leedl to see if they'd restocked with wholemeal bread - they hadn't 🙄 So I got one loaf of a more expensive type to at least tide us over 🙄 rather than go home with no bread at all. I also bought some more wholemeal baps as a backup for snap/butties. They did have dijon mustard in today - there was only wholegrain on the shelf yesterday - and I got 2 of their cooking section lemon/lime juices to try as they are cheaper than the bottles on offer in the m0rr1s0ns offer. They still didn't have any sultanas in stock tho. £2.93 spent. I then went to the other (smaller) branch of Leedle across the way. When I walked in and saw how much wholemeal sliced bread they had, I wished I had gone there first. However, they didn't have any sultanas either 🙄 but I did buy some greek tahini and a bottle of bleach in there as they were variously on offer. I did also buy some instant noodles to try - they've not our default type of food, but I'd recently got to try some noodles - I don't know if it was because they were cooked for me (a rare treat), or whether it was because I was famished, but I quite liked them. £5.13 spent on food, 55p on non-food. As I was the right side of town, I popped in to fArmf00ds. No massive bargains (for me) found today, but I did buy a 'sp1ce ta1l0r' Thai green curry kit for 79p - it was labelled as vegetarian (some green curry pastes have fish paste, don't they), and I thought i would give it a go. Plus I bought some ambient flat noodles 3for £1. They weren't Udon, but I thought I would give them a go - kiddo has recently got into enjoying using chopsticks as cutlery, so I can do soupy/curry/noodle bowls now, and will use them for that. £1.79 spent.

Total spend was £9.85 on food, 55p on non-food. I will update my siggie figgie, but I know that I've gone over the 'per day' spend until the next shopping day - not good! But at least I am aware of it - pesky shops being oos of stuff.

Oh, and I happened to notice online - if you shop at Sainsbugs and are interested in the World Food pulses - they also have the bigger bags (2kg + 5KG) included in the half price deal. Our store doesn't stock the bigger bags, but if it did, I'd be getting me 5kg of red lentils for £4.50!

Greying X

carboot_karaoke

Hi Everyone,

I have another two spends to declare and I'm still not done for the week!! This is the danger with nipping in to buy ingredients for tonight's dinner, but not having enough time to do the main shop 🙄. £27.59 was spent and another £5.50 sent to eldest CK to reimburse some YS chicken brought for me. Some of the items weren't needed immediately such as salsa or sugar but l had a discount voucher to use.

Planning a treat dinner on Friday as little CK leaves junior school so alas, l will need to return to the shops. We are also going away for a few days next week so shopping will be needed for that but from a different budget. We do have a lot of food in the freezer so once we return l will endeavour to shop from home. Disclaimer subject to the weather cooling down.

Grocery Budget £132.85 / £400

Bulk Fund £23.84 / £50

Grocery Challenge £ 156.69 / £450

mandco

greying_pilgram I’ve found a lot of items seem to be oos lately particularly essentials like bread products fruit/veg & milk ect which means I end up going to extra unplanned shops to try and get the bits I need which results in increased spending.

Finally got a Tesco freebie Thursday coupon but it’s for a stone baked pizza of which the reviews online are pretty dire so not sure it’s worth making a trip to Tesco for as hadn’t planned on going there this week and I know I’ll end up spending extra if I do.

£3.15 on cheese in sains express this morning as we’d run out again and I need some for dinner tonight

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82071205#Comment_82071205

why do you always buy evap milk? Am intrigued

JingsMyBucket

Hello thread mates. 🙂 I’ve managed to stay out of the shops the whole week so I’m really glad for that. Tomorrow afternoon I’m heading to Morrisons and Lidl to do the regular round of shopping. Morrisons sent me a coupon that’s £14.25 off a £95 in store purchase. I’m going to take Mr. Jings with me and his bike to offload some of the bounty before heading to Lidl for the rest of the shop.

I’m going over my initial list and will look at what I have lingering in my online cart to see what we can buy to make up the £95 total. I’m also here to canvas ideas as well. What do you like to get at Morrison’s? I really like the meat specials when first walking through the entrance so depending on what’s there, I may fill the freezer a bit. This has me thinking I should probably get some staples like coconut milk, spices, etc that have run out. Also, maybe a rough meal plan for the next three weeks?

Nelliegrace

@Sallyp2 Breakfast every day, porridge made with water and served with a bit of evap, a teaspoon of mixed seeds, with fruit, and a glass of homemade kefir. Porridge is very frugal, a kilo 85p, lasts me for weeks. DH has muesli.

I had to go on a course when DD was very little. I was so homesick, I asked the cook to make porridge, and I just cried. It is a real comfort food.

wishus

Adding yesterday's market veg shop and today's trip to A*di where I remembered loo roll but forgot dishwasher tablets and picked up the wrong yoghurt!

£4.30 + £18.31, makes it £84.76/£150 so far, £65.21 remaining.